Trust is the Key
by HattressOfWonderland
Summary: A collection of disconnected drabbles I've written for MadHare.
1. The Velvet Choker

Madeline's thoughts were drawn out of her book by Morris touching her hair. He knew perfectly well that touches were the one thing that would always get the Hatter's attention— she could drown out his voice no matter how loudly he might grumble.

"She could have _killed_ you."  
A snort escaped the woman, who simply crossed one leg over the other, drawing her eyes off of the pages to look back up at him, "But she didn't."

"But she _could_ have," He insisted, shutting the book while ignoring her protestations, before unfastening the velvet choker that sat so perfectly over the thin scar running along the left side of her neck, "And next time, someone might not be there to _distract_ her."

The Hatter stood from her seat, grabbing her choker back to fasten it in place, all the while muttering under her breath, "It was a long time ago, Morris. I acted foolishly, and I nearly paid for it. End of story."

Catching her wrist, Morris frowned and pulled Madeline back, earning a noise of surprise, "No, not end of story. She's killed _twenty-two_ people this week. Do you know what the latest did?" The grip around her wrist tightened as he continued, "Apparently, he stepped out in front of her caravan. Just a kid."

Madeline stilled.

"A kid…she executed a _kid_?" Madeline's eyes narrowed as she pulled her wrist free, glancing away from the hare for a long moment. Finally, her fists clenched at her sides, "Well, what are you suggesting we do?"

"Someone needs to get rid of the Queen. And that someone should be the ones she's hurt _most_."


	2. Execution

There was more of a crowd drawn than she had expected. She saw several familiar faces- Jack, the cat and the caterpillar...She noticed the White Rabbit wasn't among them. Must not have been able to stomach the idea of watching his own family being murdered.

Shrouded in a thick black cloak, Madeline slipped through the crowd unnoticed. In many of their minds, she was little more than an unfortunate memory, a reflection in a broken mirror. To all of them, she was dead.

And it was his fault.  
Near-black eyes watched the executioner, in his thick black hood, running his hands along the blade of the guillotine, studying it for any imperfection. If the traitor was truly _lucky_, they would have sharpened the blade.

Betraying the Queen was a mistake. Betraying the Mad Hatter was a death sentence.

The crowd hushed as the '_criminal_' was marched out, stripped of his tell-tale jacket. In the back of her mind, Madeline wondered where his glasses had gone, but these were all trivial things now. All those things had been stripped away, leaving what he really was behind.

A frightened little **rat**.

"Morris Hare," The Queen began in her venomously regal tone that made the Hatter cringe, "You have been found guilty of the crime of treason, kidnapping, and blackmail."  
The executioner was working on strapping the hare down while the Queen continued, and Madeline managed to weave her way through the crowd to stand close enough to watch Morris' expression shift from one of worry to one of vexation.

"As punishment for your crimes, you shall be sentenced to...**_death_**!"  
Despite the lack of shock in the Queen's decision, a gasp rippled through the crowd. Madeline's lips never parted.

Instead, the ex-Mad Hatter turned away from the guillotine, shutting her eyes for a long moment. For whatever reason, be it love or something much darker, she couldn't bring herself to watch, feeling suddenly numb as the Queen screamed out her all too familiar phrase of "Off with his head!"

The blade shrieked on it's way down, and she waited to hear the telltale sounds of metal meeting flesh.  
But it never came.


	3. Locks

Madeline screamed at the top of her lungs, despite knowing it would do no good. Trying for a fourth time to twist the nob open, she wasn't shocked to find the door still staying firmly in place.

He'd locked her in the workshop. This marked the seventh time this month.

Pushing away from the door, the girl made no attempt at hiding her anger as she threw over a shelf full of fabrics she'd spent the better part of two days organizing. Following it, a jar of buttons was thrown at the door, throwing mismatched little circles and glass across the floor but failing to get her any farther out of the room.

"Let me out!" She screamed, but heard no movement outside the door. The Hatter must be making some excuse for her absence today from the party. Would anyone even notice? Trembling, she kicked the door one last time before returning to her destruction.

A shelf was toppled to the floor, feathers flying out, long pins and beads rolling out. She was certain some of them had to have gone under the door.

Tanging her fingers in her curls, Madeline slowly crouched on the floor amidst the chaos she had created, trembling as she tried to focus on breathing in slow, calm breaths despite her racing pulse.

"_Let me out_...!"


	4. Babysitting Brigade

_AU prompt response._

* * *

"C'mon, Chloe, bedtime."  
"One more story!"  
"Chloe..."

Madeline groaned softly at her niece, sitting on the edge of her plush bed and upsetting one of the multitude of stuffed animals. While she set about fixing them all under the covers, Chloe worked her '_pleasepleaseplease_' routine on her boyfriend, who'd been nice enough to come over to watch the menace with her.

Finally, she saw Morris crack. Really, men _always_ fell for the watery-eyed act.

"I think we can manage-" He started, glancing over at Maddy with an apologetic smile, "-_one_ more."  
"Suck up." She shot back, shaking her head as she walked to the shelf to find a book. "Which story do you want?"  
"My favorite one!" Chloe piped up, as only a six year old girl could, and Maddy hit her head against the bookshelf with a dull '_thump_'.  
"Chloe, I have read that story to you_ thirteen thousand_ times-"  
"But Uncle Morris hasn't!"  
Another '_thump_'.  
"What's her favorite story?"  
A third '_thump_'.

Chloe squirmed out from under her covers to grab the book and drag it back up onto the bed, "It's this one! I like the animals."  
"Alice in-" '_Thump_', "-Wonderland?"  
"I _hate_ this book..." Madeline whined, making no attempt to hide her distaste from her niece.

Morris flipped through the pages idly, noting the dog-eared pages and colored in drawings. "Kind of long for a bedtime story, isn't it?"  
"Not really!" Chloe grinned a gap-toothed smile up at him, and Madeline hit her head against the bookshelf for a fifth time, distracting the little girl.  
"You're going to give yourself a concussion."  
"If I'm lucky, Morris. If I'm lucky."

Morris rolled his eyes at the redhead, sitting beside Chloe on the bed, "How about you pick a favorite chapter-" '_Thump_' "-seriously, Maddy, _stop_."  
"-A favorite chapter?" Chloe tugged at Morris sleeve, turning his attention back to her.  
"Yeah, a favorite chapter, and we'll read that one, and then you'll go to bed. Does that sound fair? ...better choose quick, before your Aunt knocks herself out."

Grabbing the book back, Chloe hurriedly flipped through the pages until she got to chapter seven, handing the book back.  
"Lemme guess," Madeline groaned from the bookshelf, "_The Mad Tea Party_."  
"Lucky guess."  
"Not really." Pushing up off the floor, Madeline collapsed on the bed beside Chloe, who quickly leaned up and kissed her forehead, to make the '_owies_' go away. With a sigh, she took the book and started to read, "_The table was a large one, but the three were all crowded together at one corner of it. "No room! No room!" they cried out when they saw Alice coming. "There's plenty of room!" said Alice indignantly, and she sat down in a large arm-chair at one end of the table._"

Apparently having enough, Maddy passed the book across to Morris, who took a moment to find his place and adjusted his glasses, holding the book out to bring the words into focus, "uh...oh- _"Have some wine," the March Hare said in an_- oh, that was supposed to be an encouraging tone. I sounded kind of weird."  
Chloe giggled at the commentary, and Maddy waved her hands to urge him on.  
"_Alice looked all round the table, but there was nothing on it but tea. "I don't see any wine," she commented. "There isn't any." said the March Hare. "Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it," said Alice angrily. "It wasn't very civil of you to sit down without being invited."said the March Hare._"

At that point, he tossed the book back to Maddy, and it continued back and forth like that, with silly commentary and out of place voices until they reached the end of the chapter.  
"_"At any rate I'll never go there again!" said Alice, as she picked her way through the woods. "It's the stupidest_- that isn't a word, who is she, calling someone stupid?-_ tea-party I ever was at in all my life!"_"  
Closing the book, Madeline tossed it onto the pile of laundry in the corner of the room, breathing out a sigh. They sat in a relaxed silence, the sitters just as tired as the sat, when Chloe yawned out, "You two would be the bestest parents."

With that, she fell asleep and rolled over, leaving the other two in an awkwardly stunned silence as they slipped off her bed and out into the main room.  
Clearing his throat as they walked to the door, Morris pointed out, "...you've got a bruise."  
"No shit, Sherlock. I hit my head against a bookshelf seven times."  
"Five times."  
Madeline shot him a look, unlocking the door. "Thanks for keeping track."  
"...She's right, you know."

Silence. Madeline's cheeks flushed impressively, and she choked on a breath before he continued, "I mean, that you'd make a good mother. Not...not that _we'd_- I mean, _I_ think we would, but-" He shut his eyes tightly, looking about as red as she felt.  
Opening the door, she shook her head with a smile, "Thanks for coming over and watching her with me."  
"Anything- Any_time_." He smiled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck before backing out the door. Before he could quite cross into the hallway, she held the door open with her foot, freeing up her arms to wrap around his neck and steal a kiss.

From the hallway, Chloe giggled and scurried back to bed.


End file.
